Debt! Doom and Gloom for all! (Saving tips)

Member Name: lifesucks

Product:	Saving tips
Date:	20/05/01 (164 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not many. You learn how to manage with little money.

Disadvantages: Debt, you can't get all those luxuries you love, and more debt

These days all we seem to hear about student finances is woe; people emerging from university with an average of something like £8000 of debt and many with far greater problems. So with this seemingly no win situation, what can the average student do to stay afloat?

There are really the two main sections to do with money and student life; getting it and spending it. The trouble is that one of those is very easy and one is very hard and unfortunately it's the earning bit that is hard. Curses!!!

However, I do have some tips and suggestions for those people who are carefully treading their way through the minefield of university finances. I think that they are manageable to live with and I hope they are useful for you.

Getting/ earning cash: Unless you are very, very lucky and have some supremely rich/ generous parents you are going to need to earn some dosh if you wish to stay out of debt. And shock horror and alarm bells ringing, this involves working for it! You just have to accept this but there are things to bear in mind when looking for a job.

1. Don't let the work rule your life and especially don't let it affect your studies. You are at university for the progress of your education so that when you go out to work for good you have some specialist knowledge in some area.

You should not go to work all day and miss all your seminars and lessons etc as this is simply pointless. Working in the holidays is ideal as you do not have much, if any course work to do and so you can get even into a 9-5 job for a few weeks if you want as they usually pay better.

2. You do have some cards to play in your favour. You have some choice in where you work and I would say use it. There are many places to work from your bog standard student job in McDonalds etc. to a local one or even one that applies to your studies.

Each type has it's good and bad points and so I'll go through them in turn. Th
e McDonalds choice: Such chains as this virtually rely on students and young people for a cheap and exploitable workforce. They can push you around in the knowledge that if you quit they have a ready made conveyor belt of other people like yourself desperate for the money to fill your place.

On the plus side of course there is the fact that the jobs are usually somewhat flexible and give a steady income for basically as long as you need it. Another good point is that there chains are almost always in need of people to employ and so it is quite easy to get one.

However, the pay is not very good per hour and the company is likely to care very little about you and your needs and so I would try and avoid this job if you have either of the following options.

The next option is the local, small shop choice: Here you have a perhaps one off shop in town (and not the most successful ever either) which gets along fine and needs a couple of part time staff to help at busy periods etc.

The plus points are that the firm is likely to be a bit more sympathetic to your needs. They need
you more in a way as a loss of a worker for only a short time could really affect their business
unlike with a big company. The work is also probably going to be a bit more interesting as it is not going to be as busy and is also going to be more varied than the previous option.

The downsides are that these jobs are hard to come by, don't pay huge amounts either and the owner of the business is going to be a bit more picky as to who he chooses if there are several people who apply as impressing their customers is necessary for the success of their business. Overall this is the option I would go for as there are jobs available and your employer is going to value you more than in option 1.

The final option is sadly rather idyllic and a bit unlikely to happen. It is getting a job that applies to your course and if you can manage
to do such a thing, you have picked yourself up a double bonus. Not only can you earn money, but you can also practice and learn new skills in your chosen area.

There aren't that many downsides except for the fact that the chances of finding such a job are fairly slim, but it does depend upon the subject. In music for example, there could be quite a few opportunities to become a tutor for a child etc. However, in such fields as computer programming I should think that there are few companies that are going to want to employ some one for only a few hours a week.

3. Try alternative sources of income. Right here on dooyoo is a good example and whilst you are not going to make a huge amount of money, I reckon £100 + a year is perfectly achievable at the moment and this is great for treating yourself with to a CD or video etc. There is no feeling of guilt or anything as that money is just a bonus really.

Check out the online perks section here on dooyoo as well for advice as to where to go for money making opportunities on the Internet. Whilst one site may not make you a fortune, signing up to several or more sites could earn you a pretty penny or two.

Also try entering competitions and prize draws etc., especially if they are free. Even if you don't want the goodies that may come to you without spending a penny, you can sell them or use them for presents. After all, you can't really lose if you don't pay a thing.

Spending Money. There are several points below that I think are good and practical ways of saving money in student life.

1. Be rational in what you buy. By this I mean avoid doing big impulse buys and instead if you can leave it for a while, think about whether you really need the item and if you decide you do then go back another time.

You could make a wish list to put down the things you would like to get on and then once in a
while treat yourself (not too often) to one
and also cross of the things that you go off and do not
want to get anymore.

Use dooyoo again to see if a product is a dud before you go and buy it as this really can save you lots of money in terms of bad products that you didn't buy as a result of other peoples advice.

2. Shop around for expensive items such as T.V's and the like as you can get some really good bargains. Look in the free ads and in the paper as it gets really cheap. Check out the goods before you buy them and you can save £££'s every time.

3. Shop for food sensibly. Make a list for a week of what you need (and I mean need) and try to stick to this with some changes for variation every week. Look out for bargains at the supermarket on expensive items such as meat and for the main part choose own brands rather than big name foods as they are so much cheaper.

Go to the supermarkets near to the time they shut at night as well as there are lots of reduced foods at this time. If the sell by date is tomorrow then the shop has to sell them or chuck them away and so items usually costing around £1 can end up at only 15-20p or less. Bargain.

4. Habits such as drinking and smoking are expensive and so only do so in moderation. I am lucky and have never needed cigarettes to keep me going and at £4 a packet I must have saved hundreds of pounds. However, if you do smoke, make an active effort to stop as it is just so expensive.

Drinking can also be expensive and so try not to go to the pub every night and also don't get wasted each time. By cutting back on only a few pints a week you can save several hundred pounds a year.

5. If you are sharing a house with you mates or something similar, then agree to share as much as is reasonably possibly possible. This includes everything from the shopping list (bulk buy is cheaper) to doing the laundry (less time used up overall).

Share a computer as well if this is possible a
s the Internet can be a horribly expensive thing but if there are say four of you using it, that would work out at only £3.75 each a month for unlimited usage which is far better than £15 a month for just you using it.

6. Heating etc. Really can be expensive, especially in a big house. However, this does not mean you should freeze to death but instead does mean that you shouldn't leave lights and radiators on all the time when you are out.

7. Mobile phones can be so expensive so I would just say dump them unless you really do think you need them. You could be dishing out a tenner a month before you even use the thing and I would say that if you really need to contact someone or they need to contact you then they'll do it with a conventional call anyway.

You could be wasting a couple of hundred quid a year through something that really isn't necessary at all and that is a big mistake.

8. Buying books for your courses can get extremely annoying at times. You can dish out £25 for one and then not use it at all and so I would say a) check with an older student on the same course as to what you need and b) try and buy them second hand from older students who do not them as you will get them far cheaper and they will be all too happy to make a bit of easy money.

Overall, money balancing is a delicate business and it's important to get it right. You don't have to have no social life for 3 years (or however long you are there for) but you don't want to come out of it with a huge debt burden to carry in the rest of your life.

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